Armor
by Endless Secrets
Summary: Jane is still keeping her dream of being a knight a secret. Will a stunning surprise move her closer to her goal? Oneshot, pre-show.


**Hi, everyone! My name is Endless Secrets, and I just joined Fanfiction! This is my first story to be written without guidelines, so if it comes out choppy and lame, I'm gonna apologize in advance.**

**But anyways, this is pre-show; I read that Jester is the one to smuggle Jane her suit of armor, and I decided to write about when she got it. I made Jane ten years old (which would make Jester twelve), because I wasn't entirely sure when she received the armor. As a result, she might be a little OOC, but hey, at least I tried, right? But I'll stop babbling and let you read. Please enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jane and the Dragon; it's all Weta Workshop's.**

_**-x-x-x-x-**_

It was silent and dark, a mixture she was not exactly fond of. The nighttime had long since overpowered the sunlight, leaving in its wake a trail of hushed gloomy shadows. And as she felt she had only been asleep for a few minutes, the sudden change from colorful sunset to pitch black stagnancy was slightly unnerving for the ten-year-old.

But it wasn't the weighty silence that had awakened Jane; no, she was far too sound a sleeper to let simple noises get the better of her. It was the repeated (and annoying) sound of a hand rapping softly on the wooden shutters of the Keep's window that forced her eyes open.

"Jane! Psst! _Jane_!"

With a soft moan of annoyance, the girl slipped off the straw mattress and made her way over to the closed window. Slowly, so as not to wake her slumbering parents, she eased the window open and peered groggily down at the figure standing before her.

"Jester! What are you _doing_? Have you any idea what _time _it is?" She hissed, leaning over the edge of the sill and scowling furiously at the boy as he shifted nervously from foot to foot. He adjusted the jingly hat atop his head (a tad large, but still quite adequate for his goofy demeanor) and grinned widely up at her.

"I know, I know. But Jane, you have to come see this! You'll love it, I promise," he said by way of reply, and held out a hand to her to help her down, "Come on! No one will see you."

"Jester, can this wait until the morning?" Jane yawned, rubbing a fist sleepily over an eye. Her friend shook his head violently, and when the bells on the ends of his hat jingled wildly he clapped his hands to his head to attempt to smother them. "No!" he whispered, "You have to come see this _right now_. Jane, come _on_!"

She looked at him suspiciously for a moment, her brain running through the possible outcomes of either following her foolish friend and getting to see this surprise or staying in bed and remaining not only ignorant but also fidgety; she hated being uninformed about anything. Stay or go…

Jane was not by nature a think-things-through sort of girl, and this circumstance was no exception. After another millisecond of pondering, she rolled her eyes and scrambled up onto the icy stone sill with a reluctant smile.

"Jester, this had better be worth it," she said warningly, and dropped the few feet to the ground silently, her feet stinging slightly as they hit the packed dirt. The boy grinned in triumph, his eyes brightening considerably as they started off into the dark night side by side.

They wandered for a time, in the midst of a stifling silence that pressed forcefully onto her thin shoulders and seemed to compress her breath into her lungs; she gasped in a deep breath and held it for a moment before releasing it forcefully back into the air from which she had inhaled it. It was all she could do to reassure herself that the nighttime wasn't suffocating her.

Finally, just as Jane was beginning to wonder exactly how long they had been walking, the twosome arrived at the front of Jester's room; it was a tower room of sorts, luckily located on the ground floor so she would not have to climb stairs in order to reach it. It was cold stone –probably a little unstable, too- interrupted by a large wooden door, which her friend cheerfully opened for the ten-year-old.

"Here we are!" He said as he followed Jane into the room and shut the door. For a moment there was nothing but pitch-black, in which Jane quickly muffled a squeak of fear and surprise, but then a light flared by the doorway as Jester lit a practically melted candle. Then he moved on to another, the fire hissing slightly as it met the wick of another candle, until Jane was surrounded by a ring of flickering light. Oddly, this picture pleased her, but as she made to turn completely around like one of those dancers at the market, Jester's hands clapped over her eyes. Jane scowled under the cover.

"Is this just a little too much secrecy, Jester?" She asked suspiciously, attempting to push the boy's fingers away from her eyes. "It seems a little extreme…"

Jester shook his head; she knew because of the sudden excessive jingling. "It most certainly is _not_, milady, considering what I am about to show you."

"Then show me already!"

There was a silence for a moment, during which Jane fidgeted mightily. Then the boy sighed, as if he could not fight dragging the surprise out any longer.

"Fine. It is on my bed." Jester slipped his hands away from her face, and Jane strutted forward in her best act of haughtiness.

She didn't get two paces forward when she stopped, however.

Again, a silence descended, but this time it held an air of shock and barely concealed excitement for the girl, and one of nervous anticipation for the boy. Then:

"Oh… I am… well, that is to say… Jester, how did you _get _it?"

Jane turned to him, her smile so wide and joyous it seemed as though her face would split in two if she were not careful. Her bright green eyes glittered with unsuppressed elation, and she was shaking; her tangled red hair was vibrating ever so slightly. She clasped her hands together, and went to work examining the precious gift the jester had given her.

It was a set of armor, beautiful and shiny and perfect.

The bronze metal glinted in the candlelight, and as she watched the golden glow flicker across the shoulder gear (strangely, it seemed just the size for a girl about her age), Jane was intrigued by the patterns of dragon scales covering the armor. They seemed to writhe in the light, and quickly she had to avert her gaze so as not to be dizzied by what must be the effects of her midnight excitement. She instead picked up the polished helmet, gleaming like a beacon, and slowly lowered it onto the top of her mass of red curls. It was a little roomy, but she figured she would just grow more to make up for it.

"How do I look?" she asked the jester imploringly, brandishing an imaginary sword at an imaginary enemy and trying her best to look fierce. He grinned, and nodded approvingly.

"Like a knight." He said, and Jane smiled even wider.

"Excellent. There is no way Mother can refuse me now!" she cried, and waved the imaginary sword threateningly at a slightly unnerving mask hanging on the opposite wall. "I shall overpower thee, oh masked enemies. Prepare to face the wrath of Jane Turnkey, first female knight of the King's Guard!"

Suddenly she stopped, as though realizing she had an audience (albeit a rather quiet one at the moment), and bit her lip in embarrassment. Her fingers reached eagerly towards the other pieces of her gift, and Jane quickly voiced a question that she was slightly apprehensive about asking.

"Jester, where did you _get _this?"

The boy shrugged, tugging at one of his bells as he spoke: "I'd rather not say, Jane."

"You did not… did not _steal _it, did you?"

He looked at her, clearly offended. "I most certainly did not! Jane, I am an honest person, you know that! If I am to acquire something that is for sale, I buy it, no questions asked."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "I know," she said, "I just do not want to be in this armor in a couple of years, wandering through the market, and get arrested for supposed theft…"

The boy sighed, and crossed his arms, "Rest assured, Jane, I did not steal this armor for you. On my honor as a Jester for His Royal Highness."

Jane was not exactly eager to believe she now owned a set of stolen armor, and nodded vigorously in acceptance. Then she smiled again, and removed the helmet to replace it on the mattress. Jester looked relieved.

"Well, in that case," she said, "On my honor as a future knight, I thank you." She bowed mockingly, and took her chance as the jester returned her bow with a laugh. Rushing forward, Jane wrapped her arms around the boy's waist and squeezed as tight as she could.

"Thank you so much, Jester," she muttered into his shirt, "now I can truly become a knight."

He smiled into her frizzy red hair and returned the hug for a brief moment, then backed away coughing heartily into his hand.

"Yes, um, well, it was nothing," he said gruffly, his face bright red, "and should you ever need this armor I shall not hesitate to bring it out for your use. Best to keep it out of your mother's sight for now, though; I would prefer that my head remain firmly attached to my shoulders."

Jane laughed, a snort sneakily pushing its way into the giggle as well. "As would I," she replied happily, and stepped past her friend to reach the door handle, "but I will fall victim to the same treatment if Mother catches me out of bed."

Jester nodded, and reaching around her opened the door, "Do you need me to walk you back?"

The girl waved her hand dismissively, and before the boy could say anything Jane had slipped past him, out into the inky darkness. Her laughter rung out amid the shadows, and her last words to him that night were called loudly over her shoulder.

"An escort? No thank you. What could possibly harm a knight?"

_**-x-x-x-x-**_

**Well, that's it I suppose! Thank you so much for reading my first story, and please, **_**please**_**, review! It'd make my day (and I'll give you a cookie^^).**

**Again, thanks to all! ;)**


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